Correspondence between the physics of extremal black holes and that of stable heavy atomic nuclei

TL;DR

This paper explores a novel analogy between extremal black holes and stable heavy atomic nuclei, proposing that nuclear stability may be modeled using principles from black hole physics via gauge/gravity duality, offering new insights into particle stability.

Contribution

It introduces a framework linking black hole physics to nuclear stability, suggesting that gauge/gravity duality can model stable nuclei and certain particle phenomena.

Findings

Stable nuclei share traits with extremal black holes, resisting constituent ejection.

A new criterion for stability in microscopic systems is proposed.

Potential explanations for neutral particle instabilities are discussed.

Abstract

Extremal black holes are immune of Hawking evaporation. On the other hand, some heavy atomic nuclei feature extraordinary stability to spontaneous transmutations changing their mass numbers. The fact that extremal black holes and stable nuclei share a common trait, that of defying spontaneous ejection of their constituents, suggests that a good part of nuclear physics is modelled on physics of extremal black holes through a simple version of gauge/gravity duality. A general criterion for discriminating between stable and unstable microscopic systems can be formulated to gain a new insight into some imperfectly understood phenomena, such as instability of truly neutral spinless particles (Higgs bosons, $\pi_0$, quarkonia, glueballs).